Field
This disclosure is generally related to financial transactions. More specifically, this disclosure is related to a system and method for secure transfer of funds based on a third-party entity that authenticates the validity of a payee.
Related Art
The progress of technology brings both an increasing convenience and risk to financial transactions. A payer can transfer funds from his bank account to the bank account of a payee by using a variety of computing and mobile devices. In some cases, multiple payers may wish to transfer funds to a single payee, e.g., multiple families paying tuition to a school, or multiple business owners donating funds to a charity or trust account. In these instances, certain payee information, such as the name and bank account number of the payee, may be publicly disclosed. The public disclosure of some payee information can result in security issues. For example, a hacker may obtain a bank account identifier for a person who has the same name (e.g., same first name and same last name) as the intended payee. The hacker can then publish incorrect information over the internet by replacing the bank account identifier for the intended payee with a different bank account identifier for the person with the same name. In another example, a hacker may intercept a packet that contains account information and replace the payee's account identifier with a malicious account identifier. Upon receiving the intercepted packet, a payee's system may remain unaware of the replaced identifier, and proceed with the indicated funds transfer. As a result, in both of these examples, funds may be improperly transferred to the bank account of an unauthorized person. In addition, current methods for account transfer may not allow a payer to state the dedicated purpose for a transfer of funds, which may also result in improper funds transfer.